Centergripped round shield in the 14th century

Brodir · Post by **Brodir** » Mon Mar 11, 2002 11:15 pm

Topic says it all, where & when in the 1300's can the centergripped round shield be documented to? I'm thinking bigger than a buckler. Thanks.

Anders Helseth · Post by **Anders Helseth** » Tue Mar 12, 2002 5:10 am

In the Oldsaksamlingen museum in Oslo, Norway there are five surviving round shields, loosely dated to the first half of the 14 cent. Four of them are 30-35 cms in diameter and therefore defined as bucklers:

http://steel.laiv.org/kjertesveinene/kilder/artikler/falk.html

(scroll down the page a bit)

One is in the same style as these, but bigger. It is about 50 cms diameter, whether you want to define that as a buckler or a shield is up to you...

I would also expect the Leidang (Norwegian peasant levy - much more important here than in other countries because of the social conditions) to use round shields until about 1350 when the organization more or less fell apart.

Because of this people portraying lower classes are allowed to use round shields in our group even though we do 1300-1320.

I would have trouble seeing it used by a fully armoured knight though, as it seems pretty outdated everywhere else, including Norways upper classes.

An exeption to this can be found in "Knight of Outremer" by David Nicolle (Osprey warrior series) He states that knights in Outremer(the Holy land) would use round shields when fighting on foot. These are reconstructed with straps in the book though.

Bojei Temur · Post by **Bojei Temur** » Tue Mar 12, 2002 2:04 pm

The ilkhanate and eastward.

Ernst · Post by **Ernst** » Tue Mar 12, 2002 7:29 pm

From the Codex Manesse, fighting to the far right of the Duke of Brabant:

http://www.tempora-nostra.de/manesse/img/009.jpg

Alcyoneus · Post by **Alcyoneus** » Tue Mar 12, 2002 10:37 pm

I just saw documentation for both large round shields and scutums for c 1315 in Italy. Military Illustrated (a Brit mag) #165, 2/02 has an article on mercenaries. It shows a picture from a manuscript of a particular battle (drawing was contempory) with scutums and round shields of 30" or so diameter.

Brodir · Post by **Brodir** » Tue Mar 12, 2002 11:34 pm

So how do you all feel about a round shield with straps? More likely, or the same thing?

Alcyoneus · Post by **Alcyoneus** » Wed Mar 13, 2002 12:00 am

Only saw the front side of the shield. My guess is straps.

Saverio · Post by **Saverio** » Wed Mar 13, 2002 1:42 pm

Brodir, there were quite a few odd shield shapes used in Italy in the 14th century. Send me an e-mail if you want some scans of the rounds.

[edit] I guess I should include my e-mail address

Saverio444 @hotmail.com (Just take out the space)

------------------
Saverio
http://saverio4444.tripod.com/

[This message has been edited by Saverio (edited 03-13-2002).]

Alcyoneus · Post by **Alcyoneus** » Wed Mar 13, 2002 3:26 pm

Are there many examples of center gripped shields that do not have some form of boss on them?